


managing expectations

by helsinkibaby



Series: peace comes dropping slow [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Het, Meet the Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Mary thinks she’s meeting with Steve’s team for dinner. Turns out there’s a bit more to it than that.
Relationships: Noelani Cunha/Steve McGarrett
Series: peace comes dropping slow [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988524
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	managing expectations

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [peace comes dropping slow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24094843) by [helsinkibaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby). 



> Set post 9.23, but very much a part of the “Peace Comes Dropping Slow” timeline.

All in all, Mary thought to herself, it hadn’t been a bad day. 

It mightn’t have been how she planned to spend her vacation in Hawaii, but breaking up a meth lab _was_ a pretty cool story to bring back to L.A. Spending the evening like this, with her brother and his friends, shooting the shit and watching them make fun of Steve, also not the worst way of spending an evening. Fine, she might have had cancelled plans with an old boyfriend to be here, but it was on her terms, not his, and what was it Aunt Deb used to say? Always leave them wanting more? 

She was having fun, she realised, laughing over a story that Grover was telling about Steve when she noticed Danny catch Steve’s eye, tilting his head in the direction of the car park. Steve turned his head in that direction and whatever he saw, his reaction was instant. Sitting up a little straighter, he took a deep breath and Mary frowned, looking across at him. With his past history, it wouldn’t be a surprise if men with guns were coming out of the woodwork. But Danny didn’t look worried, more amused, and when Steve stood and said, “Excuse me,” tapping his fingers on the table, everyone’s expressions suddenly matched Danny’s exactly. 

Mary tracked his destination and she knew she blinked with surprise when she saw him walking towards a woman. She was casually dressed, dark pants and a brightly coloured blouse, black hair loose and falling down past her shoulders. But what really interested Mary was how her face literally lit up as Steve walked towards her, how the smile didn’t waver as he stood in front of her, a full head taller than her, and took her hand in his. 

They walked back towards the table hand in hand and Mary knew her eyes were wide as saucers. A quick glance at her companions, though, told her that she was the only one who was surprised. 

When Steve and the woman reached the table, everybody shuffled up a little and Mary automatically moved up too, but Steve didn’t sit down right away. Instead, he looked right at Mary and it looked to her like he squeezed the other woman’s hand right as he started to speak. “Mary, this is Noelani. Noelani, my sister, Mary.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Noelani said and Mary didn’t need Steve’s slightly narrowed eyes to know what to say. Hey, she had manners okay? Teasing her brother about his new girlfriend could wait until said girlfriend wasn’t around - she wasn’t a total brat. 

“You too,” she said, patting the seat beside her. “Sit down, we were just about to order.” 

Steve let go of Noelani’s hand, making sure she was comfortable but, much to Mary’s and everyone else’s amusement, he slid into the gap between Mary and Noelani, splitting the two of them up. Which made everyone else laugh and Mary shake her head, while Noelani, suddenly nearer the end of the bench than she’d realised, gave a tiny gasp. 

“Sorry.” But as he tucked his arm around her waist, pulling her a little bit closer to him, Steve didn’t sound sorry at all. And the smirk on his face didn’t look sorry either. 

Well, Mary thought to herself. This day just got a lot more interesting. 

Not that Steve had suddenly changed into a demonstratively affectionate person, that would have been too much for even Mary to handle. His arm didn't stay around Noelani's waist for long and his hands stayed mostly to himself as the conversation flowed around them. But he and Noelani were sitting so close together that they might literally have been joined at the hip, and the amount of what Mary thought were supposed to be furtive smiles and glances between the two of them rapidly reached epic proportions. Mary also learned that when it came to teasing, Noelani was able to give as good as she got, which Mary happened to think Steve absolutely needed in his life, and because apparently Noelani worked with them, she knew what the job was like and understood it, but, from the things that she said, also knew when to turn off from it, and God knows, Steve needed that too. 

Mary was definitely prepared to give the other woman a thumbs up and that was before the team started disappearing in ones and twos, leaving only her and Steve and Danny and Noelani. Mary moved to the other side of the table because , she said with a smile, "Otherwise it'll look like Danny has no friends," and Steve grinned. "Danny has friends?" he asked and Danny rolled his eyes as Noelani swatted at Steve's shoulder. It was a familiar gesture, done with a fond smile and Mary didn't miss it. 

"Nice," Danny said as Mary settled beside him. "You see what I have to put up with?"

Mary looked across the table, grinning as she saw that Steve and Noelani had moved up on the bench a little bit, with Steve shifting his stance so that he was straddling the bench, both his arms around Noelani's waist and his fingers interlaced over her stomach, pulling her against him so that her back was against his chest. One of her hands moved to cover both of his and she turned her head to give him a blinding smile before looking back at Danny and Mary, and Steve was smiling too as he leaned in, resting his chin on Noelani's shoulder. 

"So, Mare," he said, his eyes dancing as he looked at Danny. "After today... are you sure we can't entice you to join the family business?"

He was teasing her but it was Danny who reacted. "Oh hell, no. I spend nearly nine years as your partner and you think I'm signing up for McGarrett times two?" 

His hands were waving in every direction and Mary laughed. So did Steve, but his head never moved from its perch on Noelani's shoulder, not until much later, when Noelani tapped his hand, a reluctant expression on her face. "I should go," she said and Mary could swear Steve actually pouted. 

She did too - she was enjoying spending time with them. It wasn't every day that she got to see her brother so besotted, so happy. Recalling several conversations with Aunt Deb, Mary was glad to see it. "So soon?" she asked Noelani and the other woman nodded. 

"I have court in the morning," she said, affecting a heavy sigh. "Will I see you again before you leave?"

"Definitely." Mary stood up and hugged her, and Steve stood up too, looking down at Noelani as he took her hand in his. 

"I'll walk you to your car," he said and off the two of them went, so close together that there was no visible gap between them. They stopped beside Noelani's car and Noelani turned to him, smiling up at him and whatever she said made Steve throw his head back and laugh. Then, still holding her hand, he raised his other hand to her cheek, leaned down and kissed her gently. 

Which was when Mary looked away because there were some things that a sister did not need to see. 

Danny was looking at her, a grin on his face. "I'm guessing you've never seen Steve like that." 

"Not once in my life." Mary tilted her head. "How long have they been seeing each other?" 

She really should be asking Steve that, she knew. And she would. But she figured it might be easier to get information out of Danny. "Surprisingly not that long. About a month?" Mary knew she looked surprised and Danny just nodded. "Yeah, I know. And in a stunning change to every other relationship I've ever seen him in, this one's gone from zero to sixty in about three point two seconds."

"They seem really good together." Mary risked a glance over and, thank God, they seemed to be done with the kissing, but Noelani's hand was on Steve's chest and looked to be playing with one of his buttons. Mary looked away again. 

"I don't say this lightly, because I have been there when things aren't good with his relationships..." Danny did not mention the name Catherine; he didn't have to. "And trust me, Noelani is awesome. She's funny, she's smart, she's a little bit goofy, she's got a mouth on her in the best Jersey way... I am a fan." He leaned back a little. "If your brother can manage to not screw this up, I'm already planning my best man's speech." 

Mary felt her eyebrows shoot up. "Really?" 

"Yup." Danny looked across at Steve and Noelani. "He's coming back, quick, talk about anything else." 

Laughing, Mary changed the subject. 

Of course, Steve knew. And when Danny was gone and it was just him and Mary, he brought it up. "So... what did Danny tell you about me and Noelani?" 

Mary grinned at him. "That she's awesome, which I could tell all by myself, thank you very much. That you've been together for about a month and that you're always as goofy with her as you were tonight." Which, yeah, Danny hadn't actually said, but Mary could read the body language. Danny hadn't been the least bit surprised by the kissing and the hugging and the hand holding, which must mean that he'd seen it before, and often. "Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?" 

"I meant to, we had the whole day together for me to find the right time. We just..." His voice trailed off and he shrugged, tugging at one earlobe. "We got a little side tracked." 

"You told me you weren't putting yourself out there!"

"And I wasn't! It just happened!" Steve spread his hands wide and Mary held up a hand. 

"Please, no details." 

"You're not getting details," Steve shot back, taking a pull from his beer. 

"Well, I'm glad I got to meet her," Mary told him. "I know she has court tomorrow but maybe we could all meet for lunch before I head to the airport? It'd be nice to talk to her without your entire team there as a buffer." 

She said the last with a bit of a bite to it, letting him know that she'd rumbled his plan and he shrugged, a tinge of pink on the top of his cheeks, something else Mary had never seen in her life before. "I was managing expectations."

"Maybe you should talk to Danny about that. He's already writing a speech." 

Mary expected Steve to sputter a bit, to protest, say it was too soon for that. Instead, he just smiled, lifted his beer to his lips again and took another swallow. 

Mary's jaw dropped but only for a moment. Then she was smiling too. “It’s about time,” she said, and she knew she was speaking for not only herself, but Aunt Deb too. 

And when Steve smiled back, she knew he understood.


End file.
